Blinded By Black and White
by Lady Jekyll
Summary: An injury changes Rorschach’s life forever. Dan is the only person willing to help. Niteschach slash.
1. Chapter 1

Blinded By Black and White

Ch. 1

* * *

Summary: An injury changes Rorschach's life forever. Dan is the only person willing to help. Niteschach slash.

* * *

A/n: I own absolutely nothing, but Rorschach has stolen my heart. Damn him…

* * *

The rush of adrenaline had been so strong, Nite Owl never heard the sound of breaking glass. He never saw the white and black liquid splatter on the ground, the two colors never mixing with each other, but the white mixed with the red. Daniel never heard his partner scream and fall. Not until the battle was over.

"Ha ha! We did it, Rorschach!" crowed Nite Owl, watching a few remaining Top-Knots scurry away like roaches in daylight. He turned around when he didn't hear his partner's faint footsteps like he did every night. "Rorschach?"

Rorschach lay on his stomach beside a dumpster, shaking like a frightened animal. Small gasps of pain escaped his lips, white, black and red liquid pooling around his head like a halo.

_Shit…_thought Dan, kneeling beside his partner. He gently put his hand on Rorschach's shoulder and turned him onto his back. His mask was shredded; there was a very deep gash across the bridge of his nose. His eyes were _gone_. There was nothing but blood where his eyes should have been.

"Oh God," Dan whispered. "Rorschach, can you hear me?"

"Daniel…can't see—can't see. Face…destroyed…no!" Rorschach babbled, his fingers clawing at the shredded remains of his mask. "No, no, NO!"

_Out of all the things to be worried about,_ thought Dan worriedly, _he's worried more about that fucking mask…_ He sighed and pressed a button on his belt, Archie hovering above him.

"Hang on, Rorschach," Dan said, helping the injured man climb the ladder that had fallen from the open hatch.

"Daniel…can't see!" Rorschach yelped.

Dan grabbed Rorschach's gloved hand and placed it on the next rung.

"Rorschach, listen to me. I. Will. Not. Let. You. Fall. Okay? You're gonna have to trust me!"

Rorschach warily permitted Dan to help him into the Owlship. He groaned and felt his way to the wall, pressing his back against it as he pulled off his gloves and felt the tattered shreds of his mask.

"No, no, no! Stupid! Nothing without face!"

"I think your eyes should be more of a concern to you," Dan said, pulling off his cowl and goggles in one swift motion. "Sit still and let me look at you."

Rorschach growled, backing himself even more into the wall.

"Rorschach, listen to me. You're really hurt here. I will drug you if that's what it takes to help you."

"Will break fingers if you touch me, Daniel," the blinded vigilante snarled.

Dan sighed and sat down in the cockpit. He was willing to wait to get back to his own house in order to check Rorschach's injuries. He was thankful that Rorschach couldn't break what he couldn't see.


	2. Chapter 2

Blinded by Black and White

Ch. 2

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A/n: I will admit; I am surprised that no one has thought of blinding Rorschach before… Also, this is pre-GN so Eddie "the Comedian" Blake is very much alive.

* * *

Dan led Rorschach out of Archie when they had made it back to the Owl's Nest. Rorschach tried in vain to wrench his arm from Dan's grip, his white scarf wrapped around his eyes like a blindfold, though it was more red than white now. Dan sat Rorschach down in a chair and untied the scarf. He pulled off his own goggles and cowl before pulling off his gloves and getting out various medical supplies.

"You all right, buddy?" he asked the bloodied vigilante, filling a syringe with anesthetic as he spoke. Rorschach stiffened, sensing something.

"Am blind, Daniel. Seem all right to you?" he growled.

"I mean are you in pain?" Dan went on, reaching a hand near Rorschach's face in order to take off the shredded remains of his mask.

"Not bothersome," Rorschach replied. He sensed Dan's fingers near his face and grabbed his wrist, exactly as Dan had anticipated. Dan drove the needle of the syringe into the back of Rorschach's hand, pressing down on the plunger. Rorschach growled, slipped from the chair and tried to crawl away. The drug was already coursing through his veins, it was already slowing him down. He tried to speak, but the only sound to escape his lips was another faint growl. Dan gently picked him up and set him down on a small cot, turning on an overhead light before getting to work.

* * *

_"Well I'll be damned, never thought Inky would be a redhead,"_ said Eddie Blake's voice.

Rorschach stirred, groaning as he weakly put a hand to the bandages around his eyes.

"Comedian…?" the injured man whispered. He tensed and tried to back away, gasping at feeling a hand on his shoulder. His senses seemed keener than he recalled…why?

"Daniel?"

"Easy, buddy. Easy, just lie back down," Dan said. "Rest up, things are gonna be…_different_ from now on."

Rorschach 'hurm'ed in understanding, though he did not like the delicate tone Dan was using. He fingered the bandages around his eyes as he spoke.

"Injuries sustained in fight…blindness…permanent?" he asked.

Dan opened his mouth to speak only to close it again. He did this several times, as though he'd lost the ability to speak. Rorschach became annoyed at his partner's silence.

"Answer question, Daniel. _Blindness permanent?_"

Dan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah. The broken bottle—had sliced both eyes literally open. There wasn't anything I could save. You'll have quite the scar across the bridge of your nose too," he said nervously.

"Hurm…"

"Think of it this way, Rorschach," said Laurie. "You'll finally be able to retire, just like the rest of us."

"Speak for yourself, Princess," the Comedian replied with a grin as he lit a cigar.

"Will never retire," Rorschach replied bitterly. He seemed to be talking to himself more than Laurie. "Will get back on streets…cleanse city again."

"With _what_?" Laurie shot back with a cold laugh. "A seeing-eye dog?"

To everyone's surprise, Rorschach's mouth curled into a combination of a sneer and an embittered smile.

"Not dog…_Owl._"


	3. Chapter 3

Blinded by Black and White

Ch. 3:

Daniel repeated Rorschach's words over in his mind, trying to place the emphasis of the blind man's tone. _Not dog—__**owl**__._ Despite the cold tone, Rorschach seemed vulnerable—almost scared. It seemed to Dan that it was Rorschach's way of telling him he needed help, to which Nite Owl felt a strange combination of honor and worry. The half-sneer, half-embittered smile fell from Rorschach's face as quickly as it had appeared.

"Be _seeing_ you, kid," said Eddie Blake, ruffling the unmasked Rorschach's red hair. Dan was startled to see that Rorschach didn't put up a fight. In the past, he'd had an inclination to believe that Rorschach held the same admiration for the Comedian he himself held for Hollis Mason, but he wasn't sure. He'd never seen Rorschach look so utterly defeated and it was heartbreaking. Dan gave a quick goodbye to Laurie and Blake as the two left him alone with the now-blinded terror of the criminal underworld.

Rorschach slumped in his chair a little, making Dan think of a defeated boxer lamenting a rather agonizing loss in the ring.

"Daniel—" Rorschach whispered weakly, sounding as defeated as he looked. "You said there was nothing to be saved concerning eyes. What did you mean?"

Dan swallowed hard, not really sure what to say. Rorschach sighed, a painfully human note to his voice instead of his usual growl.

"Daniel—_please._ Have dealt with…worse…than this."

_Worse,_ thought Dan in horror. _What in God's name could be __**worse**__ than having your eyes cut out of your skull?_

"It's exactly as it sounds, Rorschach, what more is there to know?" Dan replied.

Rorschach angrily began unwrapping the bandages around his eyes. It reminded Dan of Claude Raines' 'reveal' in _The Invisible Man_. At last the bandages were off, bloodstained gauze pads covered in remnants of nerves and muscle thrown to the ground beside them. Rorschach turned angrily to face the spot where he'd heard Dan's voice. Dan felt truly afraid of Rorschach at that moment, the image of empty, bloodstained eye sockets staring back at him, unseeing but filled with rage would be haunting his dreams for quite some time. The sutured cut across the bridge of his nose was so deep he'd came close to losing it as well as his eyes.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" Rorschach screamed.

"Ruh—Rorschach…" started Dan.

Rorschach's rage melted away as quickly as it had surfaced.

_"'…Finally be able to retire,'"_ he whispered bitterly, repeating Laurie's cruel taunt, _"'just like the rest of us…'"_

"You said you'd never retire," Dan replied, not caring his Rorschach killed him as he put a hand on the blind redhead's shoulder. Rorschach stiffened but didn't brush him off.

"Tried to save face. Failed…" Rorschach said quietly, that strange human note creeping into his voice again, the growl fading away. "Failed…Kovacs is dead…now Rorschach as well…"

Dan paled. Rorschach had a death wish, operating illegally when the rest of the Crimebusters (save Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian) were swiftly put down by the Keene Act proved that. He didn't seem like the type to be willing to die by his own hand, but Dan still didn't trust him. He didn't want to wake up in the morning to find Rorschach hanging from the basement rafters by the sash of his trench coat. Dan turned Rorschach to face him, both hands firmly gripping freckled upper arms.

"Don't say that! You just need to heal up and you'll be breaking fingers in no time. I'll help you get back on your feet. I'll learn Braille right alongside you if that is what it takes, Rorschach. Trust me when I say I will help you."

That bitter sneer crept up on Rorschach's face again and his voice was like acid.

"Why should I trust you, Daniel? You gave up on me when Keene Act passed. Give me reason to believe you won't give up on me now."


End file.
